Our Opinion: New rules streamline city development

Tuesday

Aug 28, 2012 at 12:01 AMAug 28, 2012 at 6:16 AM

Springfield city officials have been tinkering with new rules to streamline its development since 2007, but the roots of the changes really go back to political skirmishes nearly a decade old. The new rules, approved in July, make an important change that should remove politics from the development process and spare the city future lawsuits by moving city council approval to the beginning of the process only, instead of the beginning and end.

Springfield city officials have been tinkering with new rules to streamline its development since 2007, but the roots of the changes really go back to political skirmishes nearly a decade old.

The new rules, approved in July, make an important change that should remove politics from the development process and spare the city future lawsuits by moving city council approval to the beginning of the process only, instead of the beginning and end.

Under the old rules, aldermen approved a development’s location and sketch map, then, months later after developers put in hundreds of hours on the project, approved the final plat, the plan for the use of parcels of land. Now, city council members will approve the location and sketch map while staff members will sign off on the final plat.

The old process led to years of litigation and a rebuke in federal court after one instance in which aldermen balked at issuing final approval after initially approving a project.

In 2004, the city lost a lawsuit filed by developer David Maulding, who proposed building two warehouses – one off of South Grand Avenue East and another along far western Wabash Avenue.

Maulding had received technical approval for the warehouses, but under pressure from neighboring residents, aldermen killed the projects when the final plats went before them for approval.

Then-U.S. District Judge Jeanne Scott ruled that aldermen couldn’t deny a developer a final plat if it met the city’s technical requirements unless the development required a variance.

After the ruling, a polarized city council skirmished for months in 2005 with no resolution over whether aldermen should even have approval over final plats. Then-Ward 3 Ald. Frank Kunz argued that they should not, given Scott’s ruling. At the time, some west-side residents opposed to the construction of a new Wal-Mart were concerned that it could slip through the development process if no council approval was required at the end.

The issue was revived in 2007 when the Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce’s Quantum Growth Partnership set streamlining the development process as a goal. Developers have long complained that they have too much red tape to cut through in order to get a project moving.

“Given the old saying that ‘time is money’ and that we experience winter on an annual basis, anything we can do to speed up the approval process to begin construction and make it more efficient will be highly beneficial to individuals who desire to make an investment in our community,” said Mayor Mike Houston.

One concern we do have is the provisions regarding public notice of projects seem inadequate. Signs must be posted at the development site seven days before a public hearing before the Springfield-Sangamon County Regional Planning Commission’s Land Subdivision Committee.

In our highly digitized world, there should be an easily-accessible Internet and social media component to notify neighbors who might be interested that a major project is occurring near them but who might not live in direct view of the property.

The changes aren’t sexy, but they could save developers a month, which could make a difference when companies look at whether to relocate or expand in Springfield. If so, it will make the long hours spent on the project by volunteer developers and engineers and city and county officials worth it.

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